In March 2022, there were 488,300 overnight stays in Iceland compared with 98,400 in March 2021. Domestic overnight stays were 25% thereof, or 121,000, and the foreign were 367,300 (75%). There was almost fivefold increase in overnight stays between years, driven by an increase in overnight stays of foreign travellers.
Overnight stays in hotels and guesthouses were 389,500 (thereof 325,900 in hotels), while 98,800 were in other types of accommodation (apartments, cottages, etc.). Compared with March 2020, there was an 87% increase in overnight stays, but the effect of the Covid epidemic started in the Icelandic overnight accommodation market in mid-March 2020.
There were 325,900 overnight stays in hotels in March, characterised by an increase in all regions from March 2021. The greatest increase was in the Capital region. Overnight stays of Icelanders in hotels were 69,700, or 21% of overnight stays in hotels, whereas overnight stays of foreign travellers were 256,100, or 79%.
In the 12-month period from April 2021 to March 2022, the number of overnight stays in hotels was 3,095,600, which is a fourfold increase from the prior 12-month period. There was a marked increase in all regions.
The number of hotel bedrooms increased by 62% in March 2022 compared with March the year before. Occupancy rate for hotel rooms was 55.3%, which is an increase of 41.3 percentage points from March 2021.
Methods
Data collection for the border study managed by Statistics Iceland and the Icelandic Tourist Board resumed in June after a break due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology for estimating unpaid overnight stays and overnight stays in home accommodation through peer-to-peer websites is currently under review and is expected to be reintroduced in the coming months.
All numbers for 2022 and 2021 are preliminary, except for hotel data which is preliminary for March 2022. Due to abrupt changes in supply and occupancy rates, estimation for other types of accommodation than hotels is currently subject to a higher degree of uncertainty than usual and should therefore be taken with a special precaution until final numbers are available.